Hurricane Michael causes havoc in Florida

Reuters - Hurricane Michael, which was downgraded to still life-threatening Category 3, has wreaked destruction in Panama City of the southeastern U.S. state of Florida on Wednesday. Fallen trees and utility poles are in the way and disrupting the traffic and people's daily life. Close to 400,000 residents live in the area, but it is unknown how many of them are looking for shelter. The authorities are highly concerned with two things -- the catastrophic wind and the storm surge that could reach up to four meters. The storm is predicted to continue to dump large amounts of rain over Florida and the neighboring Carolinas. It was also reported that the storm is moving quickly at a speed of 24 kilometers per hour. The hurricane made landfall in Florida earlier on Wednesday with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles (250 kilometers) per hour, just shy of a Category 5 storm.